"My goal the whole time was to be able to finish my career as a Yankee. I look forward to seeing everybody out at the ballpark next year."

Without Sabathia, the leading pitchers on the free-agent market will be C.J. Wilson of the Texas Rangers, Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox and Edwin Jackson of the St. Louis Cardinals. Teams are also expected to bid heavily for Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish when his contract is posted by the Nippon Ham Fighters.

The Yankees need another workhorse at the top of their rotation. Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.00 ERA for the Yankees in 2011 and is 59-23 with a 3.18 ERA in his three seasons with the Yankees. He won the American League Cy Young Award with the Indians in 2007 and has been in the top five in Cy Young voting each years since.

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